Online Reporter
VIRGIL VAN DIJK’S last-gasp header won Liverpool the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium yesterday.
Beto had previously cancelled out Mo Salah’s opener during a feisty encounter.
Yet there he was, 100 minutes in, to head home the winner from Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner to break Everton hearts. And at the same time lift his side seven points clear of sixth — placed Chelsea and take a giant stride towards Champions League involvement next season. Most important, for Slot at least, giving his fellow Dutchman some desperately — needed breathing room — despite a performance that was mainly about choking under the strain of it all. No wonder Slot’s opposite number David Moyes looked like he had been mugged at the final whistle.
His side bossed large stretches of the action yet still had their pockets picked, first by Mo Salah’s equaliser then that winner from the 33 year old’s fellow old- timer van Dijk. The majority of the Kop jury is still very much out on whether Slot should be allowed the final year of his contract — and the evidence of this performance was, until the captain’s header, damning. Somehow Liverpool found a win — from nowhere — and Slot, for now, is till standing.The Everton fans belted out their new pre-match anthem, Elton’s John’s “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”.
But there was no reason at all for them to feel sad in a pulsating start with Slot’s side all over the place in the first Merseyside derby to be staged at the Hill Dickinson. In fact they should have been cheering at least one and possibly two goals by the 16th minute. — Sun
Mathew Masinge